


From the Heart

by mythras_fire



Category: The Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-26
Updated: 2006-07-26
Packaged: 2017-11-12 20:36:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/495403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythras_fire/pseuds/mythras_fire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Orlando is really excited to celebrate his  first Valentine’s  Day with Viggo as a couple but Viggo wants nothing to do with the  lover’s holiday and no one knows why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> AU, a year after the end of filming the trilogy. The lame-ass poem at the end belongs to me, whoopee.  
> Disclaimer: This is pure fiction out of my overactive imagination and therefore does not apply to anything having to do with the real parties mentioned here. Their lives are their own. I do not own The Lord of the Rings or related parties. I am merely a fan of the genre. All Elvish words are copyrights of J.R.R. Tolkien.

“…I know! I was like, ‘What the fuck, man! How can you _not_ like Valentine’s Day?’ and he just gave me this sullen look and mumbled something like ‘I just don’t, okay.’ And I was like, ‘ooookay, whateva Vig, g’night’ cuz I didn’t want to push it on him or anything, you know, cuz it was late and we were trying to go to bed— hm, what? Oh, yeah, totally, not exactly the best way to go to bed is it, no. ‘S okay though, we had been fucking each other’s brains out the last couple of days anyway, so what was one night’s lost fuck, ya know?”

Orlando switched the phone to his other ear, and then winced a bit when the abused, red ear was finally allowed to breathe and it stung a little as the blood started receding.

“But seriously Dommie, I’ve never met a bloke who didn’t like Valentine’s Day, which is only three days away, by the way, I mean, have you?—I didn’t think so, man, it’s just weird, yeah? Even Beanie, he of the “Straightest Man on Earth” title that we so lovingly bestowed upon him, likes Valentine’s Day!” Orlando stopped talking for a moment to laugh at that and waited for Dominic and himself to catch their breath before continuing his rant. “Although, *snicker* maybe he likes it a little too much, eh Dommie? The poor bloke does not seem to have the best track record with staying with these women after he marries them.—Totally! I agree, I think he’s sampling the wrong fruit. He’d have a much better time of it with us fruits.—Oh, does that mean you’re available, Dommie? I’m not so sure Dave would be too thrilled about that, you dumping Faramir for his older and obviously more handsome brother Boromir, ha!—Hey, man, I’m not the one who said it first *snicker*, I—oh shit! Viggo’s home, gotta go man, k, talk to you later—wanker. Bye.”

Orlando jumped up off the couch in the living room that he had been sprawled across for the last hour and bounded into the kitchen to see what goodies Viggo had purchased at the local farmer’s market. ‘It may be L.A. but at least you could still find some places that sold fresh and organic foods for people who actually wanted to live to be 50. Or in Viggo’s case, 60. Ok, that was harsh, cut it out Bloom, you wanker, he’s not that old. Yet.’ Orlando scolded himself and smirked at the same time, then stopped his inner monologue as he looked inside one bulging paper bag.

“Who was that on the phone, Orlando?” Viggo asked, pecking him on the cheek as he walked behind him to put the organic milk in the fridge.

“The phone? How did you know I was on the pho—” Orlando didn’t finish saying the last word as he followed Viggo’s index finger pointing to the cell phone still clutched in Orlando’s right hand. “—oh, right. Mr. Observational strikes again.”

Viggo rolled his eyes, and repeated the question. “So, who were you chatting with?” He was simply curious; Orlando could hear it in his tone, so of course he had to mess with him.

“Oh, just my afternoon lover.”

“As opposed to your evening or morning lover?” Viggo replied with a wry grin. He loved the wacky, sarcastic conversations he and Orlando had most of the time. It was relaxing. They could talk about everything and nothing for hours on end and still have something to talk about the next day. And sometimes they would just sit around and read together. Or Viggo would read to Orlando while he stretched out on the couch with his head across Viggo’s lap. Viggo loved those times the most.

“Yes. Exactly.” Orlando made an exaggerated gesture of looking out the window at the afternoon sunshine and then back at Viggo. “See, it is too late for my morning lover to call, and too early for my evening lover. Plus there’s the fact that you’re home now, so, obviously my evening lover will be left feeling quite bereft when I will not be able to call him tonight. But that’s okay, there’s always tomorrow.” Orlando finished with a sigh like he was used to such setbacks and returned to removing items out of the paper bags.

“Oh, really? Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one who stood in the way of your thrice daily wank-calls. Maybe I should go take a long walk along the beach this evening? About when does your evening lover usually call? Do I know him? Will you invite him over to dinner one night so I might meet the man who is wanking off to the sound of my boyfriend’s voice over a telephone line every night?” Viggo replied, vainly trying to keep the smirk from his face, failing miserably, and slowly backing away around the island in the middle of the kitchen when Orlando started coming after him as he spoke.

“Mock me, do you?! Well, maybe instead of calling my evening lover, I shall just go visit him! How would you like that, eh old man? All I need are your keys and that bottle of brandy and I will leave you to mock me in solitude.” Orlando was now slightly hunched over like he was a predator stalking his prey, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice as he followed Viggo around the island.

Viggo dug his keys out of his back pocket and held them up, jingling and shining in the reflected florescent light of the kitchen. “You mean, these keys?” he said in an innocent tone as he rounded the island one more time but positioning himself to make a run for the living room.

“Yes, you wanker. Now kindly hand them over and I shall be on my merry way. To my evening lover’s house. My big, manly, knows-just-where-to-stick-it, could-go-all-night-and-even-let-me-top, lover.”

That had done it. Viggo’s eyes got really big and instead of making a run for the living room to evade Orlando, he turned the tables and launched himself at the surprised Englishman, who shrieked and ran giggling like a school girl out of the kitchen and into the living room, jumping right over the couch, a small feat with his long legs.

Viggo was right behind him, anticipating his moves, always there when Orlando tried to double back and squeeze through a corner of one of the many rooms in Viggo’s house, but finding only strong arms ready to tackle him to the ground. ‘Looks like our training to become Ranger and Elf is still paying off,’ Viggo thought wryly.

So, with several more shrieks and a lessening number of rooms to run through, Orlando made a sharp right-hand turn and lunged for the bedroom, where he was tackled on the bed by a panting Viggo.

Viggo flipped him over and pinned his arms over his head so that the only thing in Orlando’s field of view was Viggo straddling him, both of their chests heaving from the chase, both feeling the pulse of the bulge straining beneath their jeans.

“I see, and what might this oh-so-great lover’s name be? For purely informational purposes, of course,” Viggo asked casually, despite being out of breath from chasing Orli through every room in his house. He stared deeply into the chestnut brown gems of his lover’s eyes.

Orlando was now breathing hard for a more carnal reason, his eyes darkening to a rich chocolate brown color, licking his suddenly dry lips. He knew exactly what to say to get Viggo to go wild on him, and that had only happened once before, by accident. Viggo was normally much gentler with him, even when they were making love very passionately, he never ravaged him the way he had that one time a while back. He wanted to see if it would work again. If so, this could prove very interesting, indeed.

“Beanie, of course,” Orlando said, without skipping a beat, “See, now don’t you feel better that you actually know the guy who’s buggering me when you’re not here?” Orlando said with the utmost innocence and nonchalance in his voice.

Viggo’s eyes and ears burned. He knew Orlando was just teasing him, like he had been for the last ten minutes, but he would have been perfectly content to hear another, _any_ other name except that one. Yes, he knew Sean was straight. But then, Viggo had been straight too—before he met Orlando. Meeting Orlando had changed his life in so many ways he had lost count. If Orlando could charm Viggo when he hadn’t even been trying to, what could he do to Sean? Orlando and Sean hung out all the time and were very good friends. But that was what Orli and Viggo had been too, at first. And then, in one night, everything had changed. Forever. Viggo was jealous and he hated feeling that way. What was worse was that nothing was even going on. This was all just conjecture. But he loathed the day that it could possibly come true. It had already happened once in his life and he would be damned if he let it happen again.

Orlando watched, intrigued as a myriad of warring emotions played out on Viggo’s face. His eyes had turned to a dark shade of sapphire, glistening in the waning afternoon sun, and Orlando knew what was coming next. He barely contained a squeal of happiness. He was definitely looking forward to meeting Viggo’s wild, uncontrolled side again.

And Viggo didn’t disappoint. Joyous screaming and moaning could be heard coming from the bedroom for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. The abandoned soy ice cream left out on the island in the kitchen slowly melted into just soy cream…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Oi mate, are you daft? What’s this nonsense Orli’s been complaining to me about you not liking Valentine’s Day?” Sean Bean said without preamble as he slid into the booth opposite Viggo in their favorite diner the next day.

No ‘Hello, Viggo, how have you been since the last time I was in town?’ or ‘Hey, mate, what’s new?’ No, this was Beanie at his best, straightforward and to the quick, no beating around the bush. One of the reasons Viggo loved that he was his best friend, and one of the reasons he was starting to get the slightest bit uncomfortable whenever Sean would talk about something he and Orlando had shared or experienced.

Viggo decided to ignore his rather uncouth inquiry-upon-arrival and said genially, “Good morning to you too, Sean. How long are you staying this time?” Viggo and Sean had a standing agreement that they would catch up with each other as often as possible when they were both in the same city for any number of days.

“Ehh, couple o’ weeks. Give or take. Gotta fly back to London when they’re ready for the cast. Just a little Indie movie I thought was interesting, something to help me relax while not actually taking a break, ya know?”

“Of course. Sounds like a much needed breather will do you good. Get time to visit your daughters while you’re there too, I assume?”

“Yeah, I’m also loving that part. And I’ll be there just in time for the Spring Dance at school. Have to be there to scare the bejeezus out of the young men taking my girls out. I think I’ll even borrow that lovely American phrase you guys use, the one where the dad says, ‘I’ve got a .45 and a shovel…’ Ha ha, I love that one…—hey!” Sean suddenly stopped laughing and gave Viggo a dirty look. “Stop distracting me and answer the fucking question!!”

“Darn, thought I had you there for a second,” Viggo sighed with a smile. He wasn’t looking forward to the path he knew Sean’s line of questioning was going to take.

“Well, you can’t pull the wool over my eyes for very long. I’m very sharp, you know.”

“Riiiiight, so then you were just humoring me just now.”

“Um, exactly! Now quit buggering around, and tell me what is up with this rubbish that Orli was telling me, in a very melodramatic fashion of course—”

“As if he even knows any other way to speak…”

Sean smiled knowingly. “—about you not liking Valentine’s Day? I mean, man, he was really goin’ on about it, and then he launched into some incoherent babble and I caught my name and the words ‘evening lover’ but not much else.” Sean said with a shrug. “I dismissed most of that because it was just OrliSpeak and if it was really that important he would have repeated it or slowed down or just blabbed it to the Hobbits like he usually does.”

Viggo hesitated to respond and instead suddenly found his fork immensely intriguing.

“I mean, I know it’s not really that big a thing or anything, when you’re single,” Sean continued. “Hell, when you’re single it absolutely sucks, all of that stupid lovey-dovey stuff, makes you want to reach out and punch someone.”

Viggo looked up at Sean in subdued amusement but still didn’t say anything.

“But you, Viggo, are not single. You are in an involved, loving, and most probably long-term relationship with a man that admires you as much as he loves you. Hell, I’ll even go out on a limb to say that you guys are a hot couple, though I’m obviously referring to the gobs of signs your fans are always waving madly about at premieres and such… And this will be your first Valentine’s Day together so it will mean more to Orlando than it will on any other Valentine’s Day in the future. Fuck, he’s already so excited he was practically jumping up and down while we were talking about it. But then he got real quiet and still when I asked him what kind of romantic night you two were planning. So, I ask you, why wouldn’t you want to use this one day a year when people actually want to hear you wax poetic about the love you share with your significant other, before they go back to being bitter, sarcastic singletons for the next 364 days?”

“You wouldn’t happen to be one of them, would you?” Viggo asked with a chuckle.

“Me? Fuck no. I like being single. And it only took me three failed marriages to finally get that through my thick skull. But I wouldn’t change it for the world because then I wouldn’t have my three beautiful daughters to go visit. But you’re doing it again. You know, we can sit here all day, Viggo, until you tell me why you have this odd aversion to Cupid’s big bash because obviously it’s something deeper than a simple dislike of a commercialized holiday.”

Viggo sighed and slid down further in the booth, feeling tired and looking dejected.

“I used to like it,” he mumbled, looking down at his hands folded across his chest.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you, you were mumbling incoherently,” Sean said sardonically. ‘I swear, he’s acting like a sullen child,’ he thought to himself.

“I used to like it,” Viggo murmured loud enough for Sean to hear him this time.

“When did you stop?”

“’Bout twenty years ago. When I was Orli’s age, actually.”

“Twenty years?! Twenty fuckin’ years!?!” Sean exclaimed, totally forgetting that he was supposed to be calm and supportive while Viggo bared his secret to him.

Viggo’s head pressed back into the wall of the booth a little at Sean’s sudden outburst, his eyes a bit wide, but when Sean apologized and composed himself, Viggo began speaking. “Well, it’s not like it’s that hard to not celebrate. You just don’t do anything on February 14th that you wouldn’t normally do on any other day. It’s rather simple, really. And before you ask, no, I didn’t deprive Henry of Valentine’s Day chocolate-y fun. We exchanged Valentine’s cards and candy every year when he was a child up until the time when he grew out of it and we started just buying ourselves some chocolate on that day. I just never celebrated it for myself. And Exene didn’t have a problem with it, so it just didn’t factor in to my list of things to remember come February,” Viggo finished speaking and waited for the slew of questions Sean would throw at him next. But they didn’t come. Just one word slipped from the blond Englishman’s mouth. Viggo would have rather had the bombardment of a thousand words than that one, single, evil word.

“Why?”

“Because that’s the day he broke my heart and the day my world fell apart.”

“Who broke your heart, and I’m sorry, did you just say ‘he’? Don’t you mean, ‘she’?”

“No.”

“Viggo, I thought you said you were straight when you met Orlando.”

“I was.”

“But twenty years ago, you weren’t?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know. Like I said, that was the day my world fell apart. I didn’t know what I was anymore.”

“So who was ‘he’? And what the fuck was he doing breaking your heart on Valentine’s Day, of all days?”

“Beats the hell out of me, I never could figure out why it had to happen that day. To make it hurt even more, maybe, I don’t know.”

“Was he… was he your first boyfriend or something? Did you not…come out till then?” Sean asked quietly and slowly. This wasn’t exactly his area of expertise; he couldn’t commiserate with Viggo but he could still try to understand his situation.

“Yes. I spent half my life trying to figure out why I was ambivalent towards girls and then I spent the rest of the time until I was in my late twenties trying to find the courage to come out to the world as the person I believed I was.”

“And this guy gave you the courage?”

“Yes. He was like the beacon on a lighthouse calling me home from a storm-swept night at sea. He had this motto, ‘no apologies, no regrets,’ and he refused to let anyone pigeon-hole him into any gay label or stereotypical societal role- he had a fabulous sense of fashion. Practically his entire wardrobe and all the furniture he owned were Italian. I learned more from him in that year about living for the now and being true to your self and to others than in my entire confused 28-year-existence beforehand.”

Sean smiled warmly at Viggo’s poetic description of his knight in shining Armani. “So what happened to change all that?”

“He seduced my best friend.” Viggo said after a few minutes of staring out the window at the world passing them by.

“Was your best friend gay?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“Then why did he…”

“He thought he could have anyone he wanted. Including guys that weren’t even batting for his team. Or so they thought. It was a thrill to seduce someone that didn’t normally look his way. He was renowned for being the hottest guy in our little part of town, a real King of Babylon you could say. Although, the one thing that made my world come crashing down was the one thing he hadn’t counted on.”

“What was that?”

Viggo looked Sean straight in the eye. Viggo’s eyes were glassy as if he was struggling to control his emotions at this release of painful, twenty-year-old memories. Now Sean felt guilty as sin.

“Never mind… it’s okay, you don’t have to… I don’t want you to…um, it’s okay.”

Viggo sat back up and reached across the table to grasp Sean’s right forearm with his left hand in a comforting embrace. “No Sean, it’s alright. I’m alright. It’s just that I haven’t thought about this… about him, in twenty years and so, well… but don’t worry about me.”

Sean still felt guilty about pushing the issue, but he clasped his left hand over Viggo’s and smiled reassuringly. Viggo released his grip and leaned back again, sitting fully upright in the booth, his arms crossed over his chest.

He took a deep breath. “I had fallen in love with him. I only wanted to be with him, not him and the trick of the week. But he was never big on showing his true emotions and in a way I think that blinded him from seeing genuine emotions in others. He distrusted the deeper, intimate emotions because of his dysfunctional family and unhappy childhood, so I guess you could say he had been scarred for life. And after that day, for the next twenty years, I lived in a shell, unable to come to grips with the scar he left behind on my heart…”

Viggo fell silent and stared at the amulet on the long chain around his neck that rested against his chest. The amulet that was part of a matching pair, its companion hanging around his beloved’s neck along with all the other ornaments he cherished most. He passed it end over end in his hands, eyes watching the light catch on the amulet’s shiny surface. Sean knew that Orlando was the one who had ended Viggo’s self-imposed exile into masquerading as a straight man with a gay man’s heart and soul. He couldn’t love Orli more right now if he tried. It was no wonder Orli and Viggo were his best friends. Viggo then cleared his throat and Sean resumed listening.

“What hurt me more than the act itself was how he reacted to the knowledge that I had been in love with him and wanted a monogamous relationship with him. He didn’t believe in love, he believed in fucking, he used to say. He also didn’t believe in all the things that heterosexual people saw as the Golden Standard in life: date, move-in together, get engaged, get married, have the two-and-a-half kids and live happily ever after. So that’s why he hadn’t seen anything wrong with seducing my best friend, and he planned to seduce many more people in the future, regardless of who he was fucking more than a time or two, in other words, who he was sort-of dating, although he would have never admitted that’s what it was.

“I didn’t feel that way, however. I wanted all the things that straight people had, as far as a loving, trusting, securely monogamous relationship went. But he had scared me into believing that as a gay man, I never would be able to acquire those things, because that wasn’t who the queers were. That they were only in it for the here and now, with no interest in anything long-lasting or life-changing. I didn’t want to believe him, but after that horrible day, I had lost hope once more and any last vestige of courage I had left was gone.”

By the time Viggo had finished pouring his heart and soul onto the table for Sean to pick up the pieces, silent tears had begun rolling down his face and into his beard that he had grown back out. Orlando had commented that he loved the way Viggo looked in his “Aragorn beard” as he called it, that it gave him an even more rugged and handsome look. His hair was also growing out, but was not quite as long as Aragorn’s yet. He made no move to wipe them away, but he did reach up to tuck stray strands of brown hair behind his ears, still absently turning the amulet over in his palm.

Sean was…well Sean was floored. He felt uncomfortable and relieved at the same time that Viggo had unloaded all this pent-up grief to his best friend, but now he had no fucking clue what to do. Men weren’t supposed to get all emotional. Men weren’t supposed to cry. They weren’t supposed to bare their souls so that they could find solace in the comfort of others. But this was the double standard that only straight men fall victim to time and time again. Gay men, on the other hand, at least the brave ones, reject this societal curse, and because of it, Sean mused, are probably much more at home with themselves, able to express “girly” emotions and seek the help of their friends to conquer inner turmoil from past indiscretions.

Sean silently scolded himself, ‘Bean you sodding git, you’re the one who insisted that Viggo tell you what the problem was and then continued to push him to bare his soul to you. And now he looks kind of…broken.’

He needed to say something to cheer Viggo up. “But then you met Orlando, if albeit, twenty years later. And obviously something awoke in you that made you want to get closer to him, am I right?”

Viggo finally looked up at Sean with a shy, beatific smile on his face at the mention of his Elf.

Sean smiled as well and took Viggo’s smile as his answer. “That’s what I thought. But then, I’m not surprised. Orli could charm the scales off a snake. How long was it again before you were completely under his spell?”

“Three months. Spent the first month just getting to know him. Nothing really happened until we got to know each other better. And by the end of the second month, I knew I didn’t stand a chance. I was a complete goner. But I was still hiding from myself and was trying to deny what I felt. Having been scarred for life and all that. Orli saw right through my charade and that’s when he started seducing me in earnest.”

“And apparently he did a pretty good fucking job of it, yeah?”

“Quite. The day he gave me the amulet to match his own was also the day that we filmed early on in production the scene from The Two Towers where Aragorn finally reaches Helm’s Deep and Legolas gives him back his Evenstar. In between takes, Orlando handed me, in the same fashion as Legolas had done, an amulet on a string balled up in his fist. He gave no explanation for his present, and silently held up the one already added to the collection he wore underneath his costume since it always went up to his collar. I placed mine around my neck as well and said ‘thank you’ to him in Sindarin, just the way Aragorn had done. He smiled at me but this time I saw something else light up those brown-hidden-under-blue eyes. I saw how much he cared for me and I saw determination. I didn’t have time to wonder what that determination was for because he leaned forward just then and gently kissed me on the lips for just a moment before he…pulled…away…” Viggo came to a stop when he realized he was gushing over Orlando to Sean, who, though being his best friend, probably didn’t want to hear about the finer points of their first kiss. And there was also the fact that Sean was fidgeting in his seat and looked slightly flushed.

“Oh man, I’m sorry, Sean, I didn’t mean to go all mushy on you, I just get carried away when it comes to Orlando and then I sound like a total girl…” Viggo finished in a mumble, completely embarrassed and grabbed his now-cold cup of tea to sip from, holding it up in front of his face to hide from the man sitting across the table.

Sean looked at him for a few seconds and then burst out laughing, sharp, loud, laughs that simmered down to a few chuckles until he had to stop to catch his breath.

Viggo looked at him as if he had just told him he was Glenda the Good Witch with a straight face and meant it.

Sean finally recovered his voice. “Sorry mate, it just came out, but I wasn’t laughing at you, I’m just so glad you’re alright, and not truly bogged down by that confession that you didn’t have to make. You looked so happy talking about our Elf.”

This of course, made Viggo blush more, but Sean wasn’t finished yet.

“I’m really sorry I made you spill your guts about your past. If I had had any idea, I would have never…”

Viggo finally set the tea cup back down. “It’s fine, Beanie. Thank you for being the one to make me come face to face with my demons. You’re totally right. I’d be cheating Orli out of something he deserved for a reason that has nothing to do with him, something that he had no control over. In fact, he’s the only reason that I’m not still hiding from myself.”

“You’re welcome, Vig. We’re not best mates for nuthin’ ya know.”

They paid for their meals, the dishes taken away hours before, and left the diner to walk back towards the beach.

“So, what’s the deal with this ‘evening lover’ business? I heard that mixed in somewhere along with him prattling on about the best sex he ever had in his life and ‘oh he so had you pegged.’ I thought that was supposed to be the other way around. Care to elaborate on that, hmmm?” Sean said with a sly grin and bumped shoulders with the slightly shorter man as they walked down the sunny California street.

“Um, not really, no.” Viggo replied quickly, turning beat red.

“Oh come on, King of Men, what are you about? What, does the Elf have the hots for me or somethin’? Or is it, it isn’t, you aren’t, it’s not…” Sean stuttered.

“Spit it out, man!”

“You’re not the one who’s got the hots for me, are you?”

“No, no,” Viggo sighed. “You don’t understand. Neither one of us does, Orli just uses you to bait me. And I’m going to kill him when I get home for telling you that.”

“Well first off, thanks a lot, I happen to be quite a catch you know,” Sean said, pretending to be hurt. “And secondly, how the hell could he use me as baiiiiit…. oh fuck. I know how.”

Viggo just nodded in ascension.

“Viggo, I would never, NEVER, do that to you. I love Orli like the son I never had, but I am not, nor will I ever be attracted to him in that way and I would never take him away from you even if I were. You know that, right?” Sean stopped and grabbed Viggo’s arm, turning him to face Sean so he could see how sincere he was.

Viggo sighed and it looked like a heavy weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. He smiled warmly at Sean and said as he nodded his head once, “I know, Sean. I know. It was just something that I couldn’t get out of my head. Once bitten, twice shy, and all that. I was scared to death that it would happen again- you two are such good friends, and I’ve always known that that’s all you are to each other, really I have- but twenty years is a long time to hurt and you can’t just overcome those feelings of dread in a year. I hope you’ll forgive me for thinking you could be capable of stealing the man I love away from me the way _he_ did to me all those years ago.”

“No forgiveness need be given. I understand completely given the circumstances. No worries mate.” Sean clasped his arm around Viggo’s shoulders for a straight-man hug before resuming their walk towards the beach.

“But um, why was Orli using me as bait? Does that mean he knows about…?” Sean gestured with his hands to encompass everything they had talked about in the diner and out on the street.

“No, he must have put two-and-two together from an incident that happened a while ago, and from our conversation yesterday when I got home. He figured out that you were a hot button issue for me and I kinda, um, jumped-his-bones-in-a-wild-monkey-sex-kind-of-way-out-of-that-long-repressed-fear,” Viggo said as fast as he could, hoping Sean wouldn’t catch everything he said because it was embarrassing enough as it was.

“So he probably doesn’t know why, just that mentioning me, or rather, mentioning being with me, makes you take him even harder than usual?”

“Yeah, probably,” Viggo nervously stuck his hands in his front pockets and shrugged his shoulders.

“Whoa. That’s kind of fucked up. And kinky, in a very, very disturbing way,” Sean said as he smirked at Viggo with a sideways glance.

Viggo saw that he was teasing him and shoved him off to the side into the sand along the boardwalk.

“Wanker.”

Sean started back-pedaling while he continued to taunt Viggo.

“So does Orli have any other lovers I might want to know about? Maybe we can come over and have a nice big, fat ol’ orgy. That ought to get the old boy up and running, am I right? You can bugger him into next week!”

“You are so dead, Bean!” Viggo said in a mock-menacing voice. He started chasing after the Englishman who was taunting him like a child.

“Not if I make it to Orli first. I’m sure he’ll protect me from the big, surly, extremely disturbed American!” Sean yelled over his shoulder as he ran away laughing.

“Not if I tell him that his countryman was trying to set me up with a woman to tempt me back to the Dark Side!” Viggo yelled after him.

They exchanged insults all the way back to Viggo’s house where they collapsed on the front lawn, laughing their heads off and waiting for Orli to come home so they could play tug-o-war with him. And Orli got lucky that night, indeed. Several times, in fact, thanks to Sean, but this time, for a much better reason.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Orlando came home the next day around sunset after a day of playing with three-out-of-four Hobbits. They had consumed an entire 42-piece box of See’s Candies for Valentine’s Day and professed their undying devotion to each other in a chocolate-induced high. And then they had proceeded to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy and act out all the parts like you would do at a screening of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” at Dom and Dave’s house. Dave had seen this coming and rightly made a mad dash for the front door, telling Dom that he would be hanging out with Beanie and Karl Urban until the madness settled down, madness being a metaphor for the Hobbits and the Elf whenever they were together with time to kill.

“Honey, I’m home!” Orlando called out in a sing-song voice as he set his keys and wallet on the table next to the door. That was his trademark announcement upon entering the house when he knew Viggo was home. Not original, but it still had that old-fashioned charm.

“Viggo, you’ll never believe what the Hobbits and I did today, it was hil-fucking-larious. We ate an entire box of See’s Candies, you know, the one where you get all the different varieties and some are filled with sweet stuff and some are filled with liquor? Well, of course we couldn’t tell which had which in it and like we were actually going to read the diagram-thingy on the underside of the lid to find out, because I mean, hullo, first, we’re men, right, so we don’t read directions anyway, and second, it was way more fun to watch ‘Lij spew coconut bits all over himself when he took a bite of this one chocolate piece, because he hates coconut but we failed to mention that that’s what it was when he picked it up. I had already eaten one from right next to it and it was coconut, so I guessed that his was too. He saw us snickering and then tried throwing bits of coconut at us, which of course was totally gross and started a food fight until Dom made us stop because we were screwing up his just-recently-cleaned carpet, and why am I talking to myself?” Orlando finally took a breath and stopped speaking when he realized that no one had answered his call and apparently had not been listening to his mile-a-minute account of the day’s activities.

“Oh, sweetykins! Anyone home?” Orlando called again from the foyer. He knew that Viggo hated it when he used those sappy nicknames for him, it drove him nuts. So, what better way to find out where he was than to use one after another until he heard him yell for Orlando to ‘stop using those infernal nicknames!’?

“Puddin’ pop? Where arrrre you?” Orlando walked through the house, looking into each room and finding it empty of its proprietor. He knew Viggo was home because his car was in the driveway and it was getting dark so he didn’t think he would be out anywhere walking or anything. If he wanted to be outside at night he usually just went out on the deck or down to their little private part of the beach, their “backyard” you could say.

“Ooooh dumpling? Where are you, my little mutton chop?”

Viggo was outside hiding behind the door that opened onto the deck, and was just about to ruin the whole surprise he had planned so that he could strangle his darling boyfriend as he continued walking through the house, yelling at the top of his lungs, using those idiotic names. He counted to ten slowly and concentrated on maintaining his composure. He heard Orlando’s voice getting closer so he steeled himself for just a few more seconds and prepared to enjoy the most romantic night of his life ever.

“Where are you, _mi amor, mon amour, melethron_?” Orlando walked out onto the deck but before he had walked two feet onto the hardwood flooring hands suddenly covered his eyes and he could feel a steely presence standing close behind him.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, my love,” a sultry male voice said softly in his ear, sending shivers flying up and down Orlando’s spine. He stood stock still, knowing the whole time who it was, and enjoying every second of it. He was surprised indeed.

Orlando leaned back into his captor’s arms, inhaled deeply and then let it out quickly. “Yep, I thought that was you. Only my man can smell like paint and sweat and that cologne you use and make me shiver like that.” Orlando started to turn around in Viggo’s arms but Viggo stilled his motion with his hands now on his shoulders, whispering in his ear again, “Stay here, and close your eyes.”

Orlando twisted back to his original position and replied, “Um, kay.” He could hear Viggo fumbling around with something and the light in front of his eyelids faded by the second as the sun began sinking into the ocean. Curiosity got the better of him and he cracked one eye open.

“Keep ‘em closed, Orli.”

Orlando quickly closed his eye again and pouted. “But you weren’t even looking at me! How do you know if I had them open?” he cried indignantly.

“Because I know you. Now just wait a sec, I’m almost done.”

“‘Because I know you,’” Orlando mocked under his breath. But he remained standing there with his eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest, waiting.

The light in front of his eyelids started to grow in luminescence again and Orlando found that a bit odd since the sun was now below the horizon and it had been growing progressively darker around him. He was almost tempted to take another peek when he suddenly felt Viggo’s presence in front of him and finger on his chin, followed by the words, “Open you eyes, Orlando.”

Orlando opened his eyes to the most beautiful display of white votive and tall candles he had ever seen before in his life. His mouth opened a few times and closed back up again when he found nothing to say. He saw Viggo watching him out of the corner of his eye, a big grin on his ruggedly handsome face. And not just a happy smile. A proud smile, like he was proud of himself for doing this, for eliciting this reaction out of Orlando.

“It’s beautiful.” Orlando finally remarked.

“Now that you’re here, yes, it is.”

There were candles lit all along the railing of the deck and along the floor following the same path. It cast a warm, soft glow upon the low-lying chaise-lounges and an easel that Orlando noticed for the first time. He turned to Viggo, who had moved over to the side to afford Orlando a grand view of the deck and ocean beyond, and took in his glowing eyes, unaided by the glow of the candles.

“I thought you didn’t believe in Valentine’s Day,” Orlando said quietly.

“I don’t, I believe in you.”

Orlando grinned beatifically and Viggo fell in love with him all over again. He thanked his lucky stars that he had a friend like Sean to knock some sense into him, because otherwise he would not be witnessing this beautiful creature’s happiness right now, as a result of the love he felt for him in return.

Viggo motioned for Orlando to sit and guided him by the arm over to the chaise-lounge across from the easel covered with a piece of cloth that he had set up in the corner.

“Is that…for me?” Orlando asked with a child-like grin on his face, like it was Christmas and he was getting the pony he had always asked for but never dreamt he’d get.

“Yes.”

“K, well then I want to give you your present first because I know yours will trump mine like nobody’s business and it’s not very great or anything, I almost didn’t do it since I didn’t think we were going to have a Valentine’s Day because you seemed so unhappy about it, but I did it anyway and so I want to give it to you now, well, actually I want to recite it for you cuz I actually tried to write a poem for you to show how much I love you but as you know I may be able to memorize and act out lines perfectly well but I am faaar from being anything like you poetically and—”

“I would love to hear anything you’ve written, especially if you wrote it for me.” Viggo interrupted Orlando’s nervous chatter as he sat down next to him and pulled Orlando’s hands into his own lap and encased them in his hands.

Orlando blushed and cleared his throat. “Um, kay, hold on.” He removed his hands from Viggo’s and turned so he was fully facing Viggo on the chaise-lounge, with his legs folded Indian style. Viggo mirrored the move and then Orlando cleared his throat again.

“Damn, this is harder than I thought it would be,” he said, blushing again.

“Take your time, I’m not going anywhere,” Viggo said softly, rubbing his thumb across the knuckles of Orlando’s hands which had found their way back into Viggo’s.

Orlando smiled at Viggo and began, “It’s called:

*From the Heart*

Hair of fairest golden brown  
Eyes of stormy sea  
If you weren't lying here with me  
I know not where I'd be

For surely I would not be loved  
In such a wondrous way  
By such a gentle and knowing soul  
Whose heart will never stray

I look forward to our lives together  
Filled with love and laughter  
Ever thankful of the day we met  
Our love'll last forever after.

The end.” Orlando blushed profusely this time and look down at his lap, avoiding Viggo’s gaze.

Viggo was staring at Orlando and the Englishman was starting to squirm. But he just couldn’t stop staring at the man who had just written him a poem, truly from his heart as Viggo could plainly see, and he knew that they would be celebrating Valentine’s Day together for a very long time to come.

“That was beautiful. No one’s ever written me a poem before. I love it. And I love you,” Viggo finally replied, leaning forward to pull Orlando towards him to claim his lips in a sweet kiss to thank him for the lovely present.

“I love you too. It took me two whole friggin’ hours to write that too, so you damn well better like it,” Orlando chuckled as he pushed Viggo away from him.

“Now maybe you’ll leave me alone when I tell you I’m trying to write in the studio since you now know how hard it is.”

“Nah, I don’t think so. It’s so much more fun to watch you bang your head on the table after the umpteenth time I’ve asked you some irrelevant question.” Orlando said with an evil grin.

Viggo glared at him and crossed his arms in a pout. “Well then I guess I won’t give you your present since I’m not going to have any peace when I’m working. Might want to keep it all to myself to remember how it used to be when I could paint all day without a single interruption. Like today. That was marvelous.”

Orlando shoved him on the shoulder and cried out, “Hey! No fair man! No take-backs on presents. Once you’ve given them, you can’t take them back.”

“No take-backs? What is this, third grade?”

“Ha ha, very funny. Now get up and unveil my present, you wanker.”

“Oooh, is that the charm you used to seduce me? What _was_ I thinking? I must have been drunker than I thought. Or maybe just more desperate. It _was_ pretty cold on those New Zealand nights. Yeah, that must have been it. Just needed that extra body warmth to keep me nice and toasty.”

Orlando swatted at him again but Viggo was now standing and quickly moved out of reach. So the younger man settled for sticking his tongue out at Viggo and moved to face the easel once more, sitting there twiddling his thumbs, the picture of patience.

‘Patience my foot,’ Viggo thought with a smirk as he walked behind the easel and gathered the top of the cloth covering the painting.

Without further ado, he removed the cloth, watching Orlando the whole time. He had strategically placed candles around the easel as well so that a nice, even light would be cast over it when he unveiled it later.

Orlando was absolutely speechless. Here was the artistic embodiment of the very thing Orlando loved doing most in his free time with Viggo. And they looked so happy together. *Please refer to banner at top of story for visual*

“Viggo…I…”Orlando stuttered. “…thank you. It’s the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen…”

This was the first time that Viggo had ever painted the two of them together. He had painted Orlando by himself many times over the past year. They were usually when he was reading or sleeping in his nook by the window in Viggo’s studio, their favorite room in the house. But this was so much better. Listening to Viggo’s entrancing voice read to him while he lay with his head on his lap, Orlando would feel lighter than air. And that was what Viggo had captured in his painting.

Viggo came to kneel down in front of his lover and took his face in both hands, looking into the chocolate eyes he loved so much, which were now misting. “No, thank you, Orli, for loving me, for bringing me into the light, for saving me from a life of hiding from myself and not really living at all.”

Before Orlando could ask him what he meant by all that, Viggo closed the short distance between their lips and kissed him with all the love and passion and tenderness he possessed. Orlando sighed into his mouth and they fell back against the chaise-lounge, everything else blurring into oblivion.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Viggo, luv, what did you mean earlier, that I saved you from not really living at all?” Orlando asked softly as they lay in the darkness of their bedroom.

They had made love right there on the deck underneath the stars and the candlelight and the painting of their life together, and after the chill of the night air cooled their warm, sweaty bodies, they had risen to blow out all the remaining candles and gone inside to the coziness of their bedroom and made love again.

Viggo was already half-asleep and incredibly cozy, wrapped up in Orli’s arms and legs underneath their comfy blankets. He mumbled into his love’s chest, “long story love, tell you later.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.”

Orlando’s lips curled up slightly into a sweet little smile and he leant down to kiss the top of Viggo’s head.

“I love you, my Ranger,” He whispered.

“I love you, my Elf,” came the sleepy reply.

A few minutes went by and Orlando was finally falling asleep when he heard a voice ask so softly he almost didn’t hear him.

“Promise you’ll never leave me?”

Orli responded by squeezing Viggo even tighter in his embrace and whispered back,

“From the heart.”

*The End*


End file.
